


The Great Divide Chapter 13: Sooner or Later

by Antigravity_Carnivore



Series: The Great Divide [13]
Category: Breaking Benjamin (Band), STARSET (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Future, Alternate Universe - Music, Alternate Universe - Rock Band, Alternate Universe - Science Fiction, Angst, Band Fic, Canon Gay Relationship, Computers, Emotional, Emotional Manipulation, Emotional/Psychological Abuse, Future Fic, Gay, Gay Male Character, Gothic, Heavy Angst, Inspired by Music, M/M, Music, Science Fiction
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-26
Updated: 2017-08-26
Packaged: 2018-12-20 03:41:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 1
Words: 12,117
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11912472
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Antigravity_Carnivore/pseuds/Antigravity_Carnivore
Summary: On a mission to rescue Benjamin Burnley, Dustin Bates finds himself prisoner of the ruthless Commander of the F.E.C., and subject to being victim of their sadistic experiments. His mind is riddled with severe torture, brought on by being injected by the mysterious amber colored drug and forced to watch scenes of another reality that he cannot change. What the F.E.C. did expect was that these experiments would bring about some visions that would inevitably change the future. Will Dustin and the others be able to escape from the F.E.C. base before the Eden Project begins, or is Dustin Bates a lost cause?





	The Great Divide Chapter 13: Sooner or Later

It was raining. It wasn’t the nice refreshing rain that comes down on a warm summer day, filling your lungs and refreshing your skin when it hits, but instead this was a bitter cold autumn rain, laced with a hint and whisper of the frigid temperatures yet to come. A nasty, biting wind flew over the streets, tossing bits of discarded paper and trash high into the air and back down again. People pulled their coats tight around their bodies as they briskly walked, not wanting to be caught outside on a night like this but forced to do so out of a sense of duty. The stormy skies overhead dissolved the last of the remaining sunlight as the antique clock struck six and the streetlights kicked on, flooding the sidewalk with an incandescent glow.

I stood at the edge of the block, no umbrella or raincoat, water dripping into my eyes as I gazed up at the old Gothic church which would be my destination. Almost as if on cue, there was a roll of thunder off in the distance, followed by the subtle flash of lightning, chasing people inside and out of the elements. The water pooled up around my feet, soaking into my shoes and socks as I tried to find the courage to make them move and lead me forward. Cars rushed by on the street next to me; their bright headlights piercing the darkness and momentarily blinding my eyes. I closed them for a moment, wishing that when I opened them again, everything would just go away, but I knew it never would. This darkness that had seeped into my soul would remain there forever now, and nothing I could do would ever remove it. This was my burden to bear.

Taking a step forward, I pulled my black coat tight around my frame and started to move forward, taking mindless, numb steps leading me closer and closer to the church. I was freezing cold, but it wasn’t from the wind, or rain, but instead from this thing inside of me that was devouring my soul, gnawing and eating away at it a little at a time, taking with it all my strength and will to live. I didn’t know what it was, but I did know that since he left, it had become my constant companion, drawing me, luring me closer and closer to my own death, and I had nothing left to fight it with, so instead I welcomed it.

The people on the street that I passed by didn’t even stop to look at me. Hunched down, their shoulders low and their eyes averted, no one made eye contact with me as they walked by. Occasionally, I would bumped into someone’s shoulder, as I made my way through the masses, but they ignored me, my meaningless existence not even worth a casual glance in my direction, so I walked on, seemingly invisible to the masses until my foot touched upon the first brick step of the church. Rain poured down the ancient architecture, over great stone gargoyles that guarded the entrance and collected in deep puddles. Far above them, a few large, black ravens were perched on the rafters, the raindrops bouncing off their wings as they surveyed the mass below with keen, watchful eyes. Harbingers of death and destruction, the normally vocal birds chose to stay silent on this evening, choosing instead to observe rather than make their presence known. The only sound from them was the occasional ruffling of feathers, as they shook the rain off themselves. Below, immense wooden doors greeted guests; the wood stained a deep crimson color and banded with large steel bands to keep the unwelcome out. I looked up to the large spiraling bell towers that sat atop the roof, looming far overhead, giving the church a sinister feel. This was a place of worship, a place to praise God and celebrate the living, but not for me, not today.

Rain pounded on my shoulders now, soaking into every single inch of clothing I was wearing, dragging my feet down as I started to move up the steps, one at a time, my eyes fixed on those crimson doors. Another crash of lightning jumped from cloud to cloud far overhead, catching me off guard and making me jump, every single nerve inside of me was on end, my heart and head in a state of complete and utter chaos. Upon reaching the final step before the entrance, I took a moment to turn around and look back down to the street below me. Cars of the grieving lined the street for blocks, waiting patiently to take their passengers away from this awful place as quickly as possible, while traffic zoomed by them without hesitation, people moving on, living their lives.

Wrapping my fingers around the freezing cold wrought iron handle of the door, I pulled it open, and stepped inside, letting it quickly go shut with a loud thud behind me, leaving all the darkness, all the gloom behind me. A strange warmth and comfort overwhelmed me as I stepped forward into the candlelit cathedral. My eyes were drawn to the walls, with their multitude of marble angels carved so delicately into the stone, each one a little different than the last, each with their wings extended and arms upraised, sending praises high into the heavens. I felt as though their eyes were on me, gazing down from their stations, judging me for placing foot in this holy place. Far below, lining the right and left walls were the rows of wooden pews, packed to capacity with people, speaking quietly and whispering amongst themselves. There was an incredible feeling of sorrow and despair that hung in the air here, covering everything with its oppressive thickness. No smiles in remembrance of good times filled the faces of the grieving, no children misbehaved in their seats, everyone simply remained seated. Some of the women clutched flowers in their hands, and casually leaned in against their men, while singles would keep their heads bowed down low, trapped in a prison of their own thoughts. 

I took a few steps forward, letting my feet sink into the plush burgundy carpeting as I started to walk down the center aisle. My eyes were focused straight ahead of me, on the sleek black coffin that lay open on the stark white pedestal. Hundreds of flowers surrounded the casket, their blooms spread out in wide array across the front of the church. Their bright fragrance was very aromatic and almost but not quite, able to mask out the stench of death and decay that hung around the deceased. I took a few more steps forward, and felt my knees begin to buckle. A pit formed in the center of my stomach, I couldn’t do this. Reaching out to steady myself, I put my hand on the edge of one of the pews and leaned against it for support. The entire weight of my body rested against the thick wood and I closed my eyes for a moment to recover. It felt like the room was spinning, the angels and cherubs laughing at me. I knelt down, unable to keep myself upright; my chest feeling incredibly tight with a massive pressure bearing down upon my lungs making it difficult to breathe. Trapped within the confines of my own grief, I knew that I couldn’t succumb to whatever this was. I had to get it together and face this, head on. Tightening my grip on the wooden bench, I struggled to pull myself to my feet and then felt someone brush up against me. I stood up and looked down to the man who was sitting on the pew that I was clutching onto. He had short, spiky blond hair and intense, piercing eyes with a serious look permanently set upon his face. I’d know that look anywhere. It was Ron. Sitting silently, he held the paper service prayer tightly in his hands, keeping his eyes focused on the front of the church, not bothering to acknowledge anyone or anything around him. Resting on the side of his hip was a black cane, which he would occasionally stop and reach out to touch, just to be sure that it was still there. From the way he held his leg, I knew the reason why he had it. The gun shot left permanent damage to the knee, and he would never fully be able to walk without the use of the cane. Another tragedy that I couldn't prevent from happening. Next to him was Adam, dressed in traditional black, looking sullen and sad as well. I knew that they would be together, but one was missing. Where was Brock? Why was he not here? I frantically glanced around, but he was nowhere to be found. Seeing Ron and Adam here gave me strength, and I was able to finally compose myself once again. I reached my trembling hand out, gently placing it on Ron’s shoulder, and waited for him to face me. Nothing. I gripped his shoulder tightly and called his name softly, but still he didn’t respond. I could feel the warmth of his skin underneath his jacket, hear the soft intake of breath as he inhaled, and could even smell the scent of his cologne, but he wouldn’t or couldn’t respond. I tried to call out to Adam, but there was no response as well. They both sat there, entranced or lost in their own thoughts, completely oblivious to my existence.

Another flash of lightning struck somewhere close outside, causing me to jump. Something about this place didn’t feel right. I needed to move. I took one last look at Ron and Adam, who were now whispering quietly to one another. Adam leaned in and said something to Ron, who pulled his jacket close tight and sat back onto the bench looking a little sick. I moved forward, getting closer to the front of the church and the casket, I could smell the sickening sweet smell of the flowers surrounding it, invading my nostrils, and just below that, the unmistakable smell of embalming fluid and chemicals that made me want to wretch. Almost at the front, I stopped dead in my tracks just behind the last row of pews and put my hand over my mouth to keep silent. Sitting there, with their backs turned away from me were two blond women. One was dressed in a rather disrespectful red dress that stood out like a sore thumb in the room full of tasteful black clothing; her arm wrapped around the other woman, who was sobbing quietly, often wiping at her eyes with a cloth handkerchief. Sitting next to them, with his legs draped over the pew playing with a star wars toy was a little boy with long brown hair and soft eyes. It was Ben’s son.

My eyes turned away from him for a moment back to the two blond women sitting next to him, the one who was crying was Rhiannon, Ben’s wife…and the other… I felt my hand curl up into a fist at my side and sickening feeling of rage start to creep in. The woman in the red dress was none other than my ex-wife, Crystal. She sat next to Rhiannon, with her arm draped over her shoulder, consoling her. This was almost too much. Was it really her? Why was she here? I wanted to run up to her and grab her by the arm to drag her back through the aisle and toss her out onto the street. She had no reason to be here. This was a solemn, private ceremony; her presence here was just a mockery and farce. Slowly, I approached her and leaned down, trying my best to keep my voice low and whisper in her ear from behind. “I don’t know why you are here, Crystal… and quite frankly I don’t care. I think that it’s best you stand up slowly and come outside with me. I won’t have you disrespecting anyone here.” Reaching out, I grabbed for her arm to pull her to her feet, but my fingers seemed to be lacking strength and not working quite right. Upon feeling me grab for her, she shivered a bit, and grabbed for a red shawl she had brought with her, to pull it over her shoulders but made absolutely no acknowledgment that I had even touched her, just like Ron. I called out to her again, this time louder, so loud that my voice echoed in the great hall and I cringed, but only a loud clap of thunder was my response. What was going on here?

My gaze shifted forward, and landed on the casket propped open on the altar. Somehow, I knew I would find my answers there. Slowly, with my heart beating fast in my chest, I started moving forward again. The chill I had felt from being outside in the rain was now gone, replaced by a sweltering heat, caused by the sheer volume of candles placed around the cathedral. They threw high shadows on the wall that danced and swayed, in a macabre darkness that seemed to seep into every corner, every single crack and hole in the wall, filling the room with a insufferable sense of foreboding. Getting closer, I could see the bouquets and arrangements of flowers more clearly now, each neatly laid out in perfect precision around the casket, spilling out from around it like a waterfall of white roses and baby’s breath. A crimson carpet with gold inlay covered the three steps leading up to the platform where the coffin was placed. Keeping my eyes down as I ascended the three steps, I noticed how beautiful this carpet was, with the gold strands woven so delicately into the thick carpeting, an obvious sign of great craftsmanship. The coffin itself was made of a shiny black lacquer, which reflected the lights from the candles beautifully, and adorned with silver bars on either side. As I approached, I took a moment to run my fingers along the side bars, and feel the cool metal underneath them. A tear formed in the corner of my eye, as I wondered who the last people were that touched this. Who were the pall bearers who brought this person to this place, to be put on display for all to see? Did they fully realize that they would be the last ones to lead him to his resting place and put him in the ground?

Taking a deep breath, I let my gaze fall upon the man in the coffin and started to weep. Laying before me, in a peaceful sleep that he would never wake from was the man that I loved, Benjamin Burnley. They had dressed him in the simple clothing that he had worn almost every day of his life, a simple black shirt with black pants and boots. His hands were folded neatly in front of him, his left hand resting over his right, with a simple gold wedding band gleaming brightly in the candlelight. His skin was the unmistakable pallid pale color as it always was, not touched up or tainted by a mortician’s brush, and so perfect that it looked as though he was merely sleeping. I gazed at those feather light eyelashes, still and motionless over his beautiful gray-green eyes that I knew I would never see again. This wasn’t how it was supposed to end, after all that we had been through, how cruel could fate be to take him away from me like this, his body being torn apart by a rampaging sickness, a disease that he had kept well hidden and secret from even his closest friends for so long? I couldn’t accept it. I refused. I wanted him to wake up and look at me, tell me that everything was going to be alright and hold me in his arms again. There was so much that I never got the chance to tell him, so many opportunities that I had missed, always deluding myself into thinking that I would have one more day with him, one more hour, one more minute. Now here I was, standing in front of him, dripping wet and soaked to the core, feeling incredibly numb and paralyzed in fear. I was afraid to go on living without him. I couldn’t do it. I lost him once before, in another life perhaps, but that pain, that sorrow of losing the one that you love, you should never have to experience once, and definitely not twice.

“Ben…” I whispered, and reached out. I wanted to touch him. I didn’t care if he was no longer alive, I needed to feel him, feel his skin one last time. As my fingers hovered over his body, a sudden movement out of the corner of my eye caught my attention and I slowly turned to see Rhiannon standing next to me, clutching her handkerchief in shaking hands and gazing down at her husband in despair. I immediately withdrew my hand and stepped back, watching her as she leaned forward, her eyes red and puffy as she wept over her husband, and father of her child. I had to force my tears back as she leaned forward and gently ran her fingers through his hair. A glint of light caught my eye and I could see the matching wedding ring on her finger gleaming brightly in the flickering candlelight. For a moment I had forgotten that I wasn’t part of his life here. I was a friend, a fellow musician, someone to tour with and nothing more. He had a family here, and I wasn’t part of it. My heart went out to Rhiannon, and her son, who would now have to grow up never knowing what it would feel like to have his father’s hand in his, leading him down the beach at twilight, or tucking him into bed at night. The thing he would have, forever though would be the sound of Ben’s voice, singing to him, loud and clear through the speakers every night, captured in perfect quality and preserved for all eternity. That would be something that could never be taken away, Ben had given his son the ultimate gift, that of his words, his melodies and his music.

Rhiannon’s tears trickled down her face, landing on Ben’s lifeless chest. I wanted it to be like a fairy tale, where the power of her tears would magically bring him back to life, he’d sit up in the coffin and smile, and then everything would be alright. Sadly though, there are no such things in life like fairy tales coming true. Her tears merely slid off her cheeks and were absorbed by his shirt, disappearing into the fabric and nothing more. I was forced to look away, unable to bear the sight of Ben’s body any longer and looked over to where his son and Crystal were sitting. The bench was empty. I immediately scanned through the rows looking for the two of them, until I finally caught sight of Crystal’s red dress, heading back down the center aisle of the church, Ben’s little hand in hers, walking together. She was leading him away. I turned to Rhiannon, calling to her, but I knew it was useless, she couldn’t hear me. I sprinted down the steps and called out to Crystal, in a desperate attempt but she continued to walk to the door. I moved fast as my feet could carry me. I only made it a few steps, when the built up momentum I had pitched me forward as I tripped on a child’s star wars toy and I fell down onto the carpeting, landing on all fours. They were at the crimson painted doors now. I dully noticed how eerily similar Crystal’s red dress matched the stained wood. She blended in well, like a blood stain on a poison apple, you couldn’t tell them apart. Cursing, I scrambled to my feet and called out to her as I stood, up, but still she didn’t turn. She pulled the door open, and I could see the blackness of night lingering outside, threatening to swallow them up. Reaching out, I summoned every bit of strength I had left and shouted. “BENJAMIN!”

The little boy stopped, refusing to walk forward. I had almost made it over to them when he let go of her hand and turned around to face me. He looked at me with the most innocent, beautiful gray-green eyes that I had ever seen. They were like liquid emeralds, floating in a sea of charcoal. Occasionally as the candles would flicker, I could see strange flecks of amber color around the edges, and it made me shudder. He saw me! I knelt down and opened my arms wide for him, speaking gently. “Ben, it’s okay. Please come over here to me, I’m your uncle Dustin. We met on the beach, remember?” The little boy continued to stare at me, almost as if deciding whether or not to trust me, while she tugged on his hand in an effort to get him moving. Part of me wanted to go over and grab him, take him away from her and just go, but I knew that Crystal was unpredictable, if it WAS Crystal and not some F.E.C. mind hack. Either way, it was a very dangerous situation and it had to be dealt with gently. She was taking him away and I knew I couldn’t let that happen.

Feeling Ben’s little hand slip out of hers, Crystal looked down to the child curiously. “Hey little guy, what’s wrong, come on we have to go.”

Pointing directly at me, Ben smiled and took another step forward. “DDDustin..”

My heart was about to burst. He had said my name. He did know me! I was overcome with emotion. I had to keep it together; I had to get him away from her. Still holding my arms out, I beckoned him to come closer, and picked up the toy that he had dropped, presenting it to him. “That’s right Ben. This is yours isn’t it? Come on, everything will be alright.”

As he started to move forward again, Crystal placed a hand on his chest, preventing him from moving. I could see her ruby red nails arch slightly and dig into the front of his shirt. He squirmed uncomfortably and tried to get free, but she held him in place, trying her best to explain. “Benjamin. Uncle Dustin and Uncle Brock are both gone, remember? Mommy said that the bad guys took them away. They are with Daddy now, in a special place filled with music and light, watching over you. We have to go now, there are people waiting for us.”

“No!” he shouted, his eyes still fixed on me. I could see confusion and panic in those beautiful, innocent eyes. Everyone in the church turned around to stare at them, but no one made an effort to get involved. I couldn’t let her take him. Extending his arms, he tried to reach for me, but I was too far away. I was back up and on my feet in an instant, running for the door. Crystal grabbed hold of the boy and lifted him up into her arms, and then turned toward the exit. A wave of cold air and wind hit me all at once as she pulled those doors open and hurried outside. The rain was coming down in sheets now, making visibility difficult, and soaking everything within seconds. She had made it to the middle section of stairs as my feet hit the top and I let out a shout at the top of my lungs, louder than I had ever screamed before in my entire life. “CRYSTAL, STOP!!”

Turning slowly around, her blonde hair whipping madly against her cheeks and her red dress clinging tightly to her small frame, her eyes searched around, desperately trying to find the source of the voice that called to her. Her arms wrapped tightly around Ben’s little body trying her best to shelter him from the elements as she stood motionless, confused. She couldn’t see me. No one could, except for Ben. He kept his eyes on me. “Ben, listen to me. That woman, she’s one of the bad people. It’s not your aunt Crystal. She’s going to hurt you. You need to get away from her. Okay?” Suddenly there was a loud rumble of thunder and then a brilliant flash of lightning that lit up the entire sky and shook the ground. Startled, the ravens that were observing far overhead let go of their perch and took to flight, sending a spiral of black feathers down onto the ground, mixing with the pouring rain. Once again, Ben whipped his head around to look at me, his long dark tendrils of fine baby hair dripping water into his eyes and running down his red, flushed cheeks. His tiny hands were gripping on to her with all his strength. I called to him once again, trying to make my voice heard through the pounding rain and wind. “Benjamin. Come with me. I will take you back inside, we can go see Daddy. Would you like that?”

Ben nodded slowly and I stretched out my arms for him. Squirming in Crystal’s arms, the little boy started to kick and twist, making it hard for her to keep a grip on him. Clutching him as tightly as she could, she struggled to keep her hold on him but eventually he managed to wiggle free and slide down her body. The moment his feet touched the flooded concrete steps, he was off and running towards me, with Crystal following quickly behind, but slowed down by her $300 price tag high heels. I didn’t know what was going to happen once I had him, I didn’t care. All I knew was that I had to get him away from her. He was about ten feet away from me when I heard the doors of the church behind me creak open. I turned around and saw the massive amount of grieving family members and friends all start to head out at the same time. One by one, their dark colored umbrellas opened, flipping up to the sky to shrug off the rain, like the ravens perched on the roof, as they stepped out, a sea of black cascading down the stone steps. They pushed past me, elbow to elbow, like I wasn’t even there, in a rush to get to their cars to avoid getting wet. I heard Crystal call Ben’s name out, her voice sounding like a shriek of panic, and turned my attention back toward her again, as she was now frantically searching the crowd for him. He was gone. I pushed through the crowd of people, desperately trying to find where he had gotten pushed off to, but there were people everywhere now, some slowly moving toward their cars, others standing around and chatting, and I had a sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach that I wouldn’t be able to find him. “Ben!! Ben!! Ben!!” she screamed, pushing her way through the people, searching frantically.

The storm intensified, the wind was sending lashing waves of rain down now that pelted the streets and sidewalks mercilessly, flooding everything in sight. Desperately searching for the little boy, I turned around to see Ron exit the church and Crystal ran up to him, her eyes filled with panic. “He’s gone!” she screamed. “It’s all my fault! I lost him!”

Ron’s eyes widened. “WHAT? You lost Ben? Holy fuck Crystal, how? Where..?”

“I don’t know!” she sobbed, wiping the rainwater and smeared mascara out of her eyes. “I had him here with me and he jumped out of my arms for no reason and ran off as the doors opened and I lost him in the crowd of people.” She grabbed the front of Ron’s shirt with wrinkled, wet fingers. “Help me find him, before Rhiannon….”

“Before I what?” Rhiannon asked as she took a step outside the church, escorted by Adam who was sheltering her with his umbrella. The crowd had started to clear out a bit, and she looked around frantically. “Crystal, where is my son?”

Lowering her head, she avoided Rhiannon’s gaze. “I don’t know. He was here one minute and then the next he was---“

“Fuck this shit.” Ron mumbled and then limped out into the storm and rain, searching the church yards, calling for Ben as he ran the length of the entire block, looking for the boy. Adam stayed with the two women, already on his cell phone calling for the police.

“We KNEW they were coming for him, Crystal! That’s why I wanted you to take him out of the church and get him to safety. I TRUSTED you! How could you do this to me? How could you do this to HIM?” she screamed, pointing back into the church. “My husband is dead, and now my son is missing!”

Crystal’s tears streamed down her cheeks, mixing with the raindrops. “I am sorry; I just let him go for one second… and…”

Rhiannon pulled her arm back and slapped Crystal across the face. The sound of her hand hitting the wet flesh echoed over the church steps overpowering even the most raucous clap of thunder. Adam fell silent on his phone call for a moment, stunned at the ferocity of the assault, as Rhiannon’s eyes flashed with intense anger. “I don’t want to hear your excuses, you whore! Go find my son, or I swear to fucking God I will rip you apart right here on these steps with my bare hands.”

Holding onto her cheek where she had been slapped, Crystal said nothing as she joined Ron to search the church grounds, her voice small and weak as she called out for the lost boy.

Turning to Adam, Rhiannon’s eyes filled with tears. “Why do they want him? What is a three year old child possibly worth to these monsters? I can’t lose him, Adam. I can’t lose them both.” She leaned into him, resting her body against his broad chest as he wrapped his arms around her, keeping his eyes focused on the grounds around the church for any sign.

“I wish I had the answers for you.” He said softly. “One person did, Dustin. He kept warning us over and over again, but we never really listened to him. We just thought it was some sort of gimmick to sell records.” Adam clutched the handle of the umbrella so tight that his fingers turned white. “We should have paid more attention to the message, but we didn’t, and look where we are now. Dustin and Brock, murdered by someone we can’t remember—like our memories have been wiped away of that day, Benjamin is dead, your son missing. Whoever these people are, they’ve taken everything from us, and that shows how ruthless and evil they are.” He pulled her away from him and bent down to look her straight in the eyes, holding onto her small shoulders. I was amazed at Adam’s compassion for her, he was usually the silent one who only spoke up when he absolutely needed to, and it was unusual hearing him trying to comfort her. “We’ve got to keep it together and stand against them. It’s going to be hard, but we can do it if we refuse to give in. Do you think you can do that?” Rhiannon nodded and he flashed her a smile. “Alright, come on. Let’s go find your son.”

The unrelenting rain still poured down over me as I silently watched them descend the steps and join in the search for the boy. I felt in a way that it was my fault that he had gone missing. If I hadn’t called out to him, and made him slip away from Crystal, she could have taken him away from the church to someplace safe. It was my doing that distracted him. I didn’t know why I was here, why I was invisible to all but the little boy. What was happening to me? Lost in my own thoughts, I failed to notice the streetlights begin to flicker on and off as surges of electricity pulsed through them in waves. The traffic had died down, as the hour grew late and the only sound on the streets was that of the voices calling desperately for the little boy. Then suddenly I felt something brush the back of my hand. I looked down, as his fingers entwined with mine, and the flash of his wedding band as it reflected the bright illumination of lightning that jumped from cloud to cloud high overhead. “Ben?” I whispered and looked up at him. He was wearing the same black outfit he always did, only this time, his eyes were obscured by glasses with silver frames, and a dark colored cadet had that sheltered his face from the rain. He appeared unusually vulnerable and hollow, as if I was seeing only a shadow of the true man. He didn’t look at me, but kept his gaze on the street in front of the church. “Ben, your son… it’s my fault. I thought Crystal was going to… I made a mistake…” Feeling as though my words were failing, I stopped talking and just looked at him, trying to see into those beautiful eyes for any sign of understanding. Water droplets dripped off the brim of his hat, keeping his face concealed in shadows. 

“Sometimes life has a cruel sense of humor, giving you the thing you always wanted at the worst time possible.” He said very softly. I could feel him tremble slightly next to me. I had never seen him like this before, was it the cold from the rain, or something else? Just out of the corner of my eye I could see movement down below on the street, a shadow from a tree blowing in the wind perhaps; I ignored it.

I looked at him curiously. He was visibly trembling now. What was going on? “What do you mean Ben? I don’t understand.” The storm was increasing in intensity now, I could just barely hear the voices of the others now shouting for Ben over the rolling thunder. The hairs on the ends of my arms stood up strangely, something was about to happen, I could feel it.

Still not even bothering to look at me, Benjamin clutched my hand and kept his eyes fixated on the street. “Watch.” He whispered. I turned my gaze to the direction that he was looking in, and let out a cry of shock. The shadowy shape I had seen a few moments earlier came into view, it was little Ben. He was wandering out onto the sidewalk in front of the church, dripping wet and jumping from puddle to puddle splashing in the water with delight. I could just barely hear him singing:

♪Rain, rain go away, ♪  
♪Come again another day, ♪  
♪All the world is waiting for the sun, ♪  
♪All the world is waiting for the sun, ♪  
♪All the world is waiting for the sun. ♪

There was a dim flash of light that appeared just up the street, and I called out to him. “Ben!” He jumped delightedly into the puddle in front of him, sending streaks of mud up onto the front of his clothes and turned to look at me, waving happily. Then over the screaming storm came the whir of a engine, accompanying the flash of light. There was a vehicle coming down the street towards him. I lurched forward, trying to step down off the steps to get to him, but Ben held my hand tightly, even squeezing it a little tighter and held me in place. I shot him a confused look. “What the hell, Ben, let me go! He’s going to get hit!”

He stood still as a statue, motionless. I didn’t understand how he could just stand there while his child was in danger. “There’s nothing you can do here, Dustin. You can’t change the past. Just take a breath.”

“NO!” I shouted back at him, over the storm. “You’re wrong, he can see me!”

“Children, animals and the insane.” He replied flatly.

I could hear Rhiannon and the others running down the street now screaming his name, they spotted the boy, but were far away, closing in fast. “What are you talking about?” I asked him.

Sighing, he repeated. “Children, animals and the insane are the ones that can see the dead, Dustin.”

My heart sank. I wasn’t quite prepared for this. Little Ben kept singing on the sidewalk as the sound of the engine grew closer still. Rhiannon and Adam were rushing down the street at a breakneck pace, sprinting as fast as they could with the others in tow behind him. Ron, limping with his injury had given up on trying to keep up with them and had bolted out into the street, hoping to catch the driver before he could get anywhere near the child, and Crystal was nowhere to be seen. It was raining so hard now that it was almost hard to see any further than a few feet in front of you. The wind was howling in the trees, scattering the last of the few remaining fall leaves into the air.

Ben had let go of my hand and came around behind me, wrapping his arms around my body and pulling me tight against his chest. I wanted to break free, I had to make it to the curb, but I knew he wouldn’t let me, still I had to try. I made to step forward, when I felt his lips brush against the back of my ear as he whispered to me. “It only hurts just once.”

The engine grew louder, I saw Ron far up the street shouting, yelling as the one single light from a motorcycle flooded over him. I looked down to little Ben, still unaware and playing in the puddles. “Please don’t say the next line Ben.”

The rider, dressed in all black, bore down fast upon Ron, and at the last moment was able to swerve and go around him, narrowly missing him by inches. I watched as he fell down onto the wet pavement with a sickening thud onto the wounded leg, letting out a agonizing scream of pain. Forcing his body back around, he watch helplessly as the rider made his way further down the street and to Ben.

I bit down hard on my lip. “For God sake, please don’t say the next line.” I repeated.

Rhiannon and Adam were almost to Ben, merely a few feet away when the sound of the engine and the single bright light caught the little boy’s attention. He turned around to see the rider coming right at him, not quite sure what to do. I wanted to turn away, I didn’t want to see this. Behind me, Benjamin was trembling so much. I suspected that he was going into shock. He was being forced to watch his son die. Tears streamed down my eyes, mixing with the raindrops, making the scene before me all warped and distorted. I wiped them away just in time to see the black cloaked rider aim his bike for Ben, not slowing down or attempting to brake and then reach out with his left arm and scoop up the little boy, tucking him underneath his arm like he was nothing more than a bag and then start to drive off. Kicking and screaming, Ben started to cry, his shrieks so loud that they pierced the storm. Rhiannon and Adam called out to him, only a short distance away, shouting for him. In between his shrieks, I could hear him scream back. “Mommy… mommy… mommy.” She couldn’t reach him though. The bike had almost made it to the corner, and gone out of sight, when I heard his little voice for the last time. “DADDY!” Then he was gone, forever.

Ben let go of me, and I slid down his body to my knees, landing on the wet stone. Everything was moving in slow motion. Bright red and blue lights soon flooded the area as the police appeared with Crystal in tow, they rushed to Rhiannon and Adam, and were quickly talking into their squawking radios giving the report to follow the motorcyclist. Paramedics were called to help Ron, and I watched as they loaded him into the back of a ambulance and drove off. I couldn’t believe this was happening. I took my glasses off and tucked them away in my pocket. “What is this all for?” I asked Ben. “Why was I forced to watch this? Haven’t we suffered enough?”

I felt him move away from behind me. “It’s all coming to an end, Dustin. Choices will have to be made, and you are the one that is going to be forced to make them. You needed to see this, to understand.”

“UNDERSTAND WHAT BEN? Huh? How am I supposed to make sense out of seeing your dead body, my friends in pain and a child get abducted?” I snapped at him.

He briefly touched my shoulder as he stepped away. “You always get the thing you want at the worst time possible, just remember those words when you see him.”

“Are you fucking kidding me with cryptic shit here again Ben?” I turned around to confront him, and there was no one there. He had vanished. I was mentally and physically exhausted. All I wanted to do was go to sleep. I willed myself to get up and slowly walk down to the street where Rhiannon, and Adam were. Crystal had ridden with Ron to the hospital. I listened as they gave their report to the police, then with a loud blast of static, a report came over the radio that silenced everyone. There was a accident on the bridge. A motorcycle which was traveling at a high rate of speed had skidded out of control on the wet pavement and smashed into the barrier, breaking through it and plummeting down into the cold water below. No bodies had been recovered yet.

Rhiannon screamed, and Adam held her in his arms. The police ushered them both into the dry car, and I felt my heart aching seeing the look of extreme despair and sadness in their eyes. Adam pulled the door closed behind him and I went up to the window and reached out, placing my hand on the wet glass. My fingertips glided down over the damp surface, a miserable excuse for not being able to physically touch either of them. For a moment, I thought I saw him turn and look at me, our eyes met and his lips parted as if to say something, and then the car drove off with the sirens wailing.

For the second time I fell down to the ground, completely spent and exhausted. I felt cold and numb, none of my extremities would respond, each nerve was slowly shutting down, so I slumped over and closed my eyes. I laid there for a very long time on the church steps, refusing to open them.. The rain poured down over my face, getting into my eyes, my nose, my mouth. I wanted it to drown me. Every inch of my body was damp and wet; my clothes clung to me like a death shroud, tight and uncomfortable against my skin. A bright flash of lightning reminded me that the storm had not passed yet, and that I could seek shelter as quickly as I could, but I did not care. I could still hear Rhiannon and Ron shouting, little Ben screaming in my ears; even the most intense storm would not ever be able to drown out those horrific sounds. The ravens returned to their perch high atop the steeple. Ruffling their feathers, they squawked down loudly at me, flapping their wings in protest of my presence in their territory. Everyone else left. I didn’t know what to do or think.

I wanted to be with Benjamin, wherever he was. I wanted to be with Brock, wherever he was. Most importantly, I didn’t want to be alone. There was a emptiness that was sinking into my chest, filling me up with such a sweet sorrow that I thought I would surely die from it. As the rain poured down over my eyes, I began to hear a strange beeping sound, faint and distant at first, but then slowly growing louder and louder. I didn’t want to open my eyes because I knew what that sound was, and if I opened them, then I would no longer be laying on the steps of a church in the small hours of the morning. I’d be forced to deal with a reality that I was slowly losing grasp of, losing everyone and everything that I once held dear. Brock hated me there now, and Ben… Ben was lost.

The rain had stopped now, bringing with it an intensely cold wind that whispered of winter. I knew I had no choice, I couldn’t stay here forever. Slowly, I tried to force my heavy eyes open, but it took such great effort that I immediately shut them again. Moving slightly, I could feel the cold, hard steel of the gurney underneath me, the harsh leather straps of the bindings on my wrists and ankles and the tell tale beeping sound of the monitors that were connected to me. Once again, I was back on Prox. I groaned and tried to move my head, and an intense, blinding pain shot through it. 

“Don’t. Move.” Two separate commands, spoken sternly with a soft tone that commanded respect. Ben’s adult son, Burnley. I tried to open my eyes again, and managed a small bit of success, however, everything was distorted and blurry. All I could see is the vast array of monitors and computers that lined the wall of the lab, blinking with a rainbow stream of color and the dark shape of his body looming over me. “Phase 2 will begin shortly.”

“What are you doing to me?” I asked, trying my best to push the vomit that was rising in my stomach back down as the room spun around like a top. He didn’t answer me. He simply stood over me, looking at the readouts and paper EKG results that were flowing out of a printer. “Please listen to me Benjamin, these people, the F.E.C. they are manipulating you. You might think you’re in charge here, but you’re not. There is always someone on the side lines pulling the strings. It doesn’t have to be that way. You can choose to do the right thing and walk away from all of this.” I took a breath and let my eyes finally come into focus, falling on the sight of Ben’s son who had been taken away only moments before. A young man now, he looked exactly like his father, with the only exception being those amber sparks of color in his pupils. “Benjamin please. Let’s just go home okay?”

He leaned down, gliding one of his hands down the side of my body and sneered at me. I could feel the warm touch of his fingertips through the thin cloth draped over my naked flesh. He saw the discomfort that it was causing me, even with the slightest touch and it only pleased him more. It made me feel sick. “My name is Burnley. Benjamin is the name of the man who is rotting away in the cellars here, nothing more than a chunk of atrophied flesh used as bait to lure in the traitor that got away from us. I’d suspect by the level or deterioration from the last time I laid eyes on him, he would possibly be deceased by now.”

I searched his eyes, trying to find a glimmer of sympathy there. “He’s your father, how can you just let him suffer like that? He loves you so much. He couldn’t be there to protect you when he wanted to, his body just gave up from all the years of being sick, but that doesn’t mean that he didn’t love you right to the end. Burnley, you were the single thing that was keeping him alive. You have a chance here to make things right, don’t throw it away.” I stopped for a moment and noticed that he was listening to me. I had him interested! “I can’t explain how, or why we were brought here and given a second chance at life, but I do know that he’s trying his very best to make amends for all the things he did wrong. He never got to see you grow up, and I know that man down there in the cell, the one who is dying all over again, can be saved, just like you… but you have to try.”

Burnley took a step back and turned away from me so I could no longer see his face. “Those are really beautiful words, Bates, but they mean absolutely nothing to me.” Turning his head slightly to look over his shoulder at me, shadows partially obscuring his face, and his voice full of spite, he said “In case you haven’t figured it out yet, I will give you a bit of knowledge to take with you before we begin again, mostly because I highly doubt this will be the last time you are conscious again.” I could tell he was fiddling with something in front of him as he spoke, something neatly laid out on the crash cart that was wheeled near the bed. “Benjamin Burnley, the man who you speak so highly of… the one that you say loves me so much, my father...down there in the cell, is the one who brought me here!”

Turning around, I could see now that he had another syringe in his hand, similar to the one that he had injected me with earlier, only this one was filled to the maximum level with the eerie swirling amber liquid. I knew that whatever it was, this was going to be the fatal dose. I couldn’t let him inject me again or else it would be over. “I don't believe you. Ben would never do that. He couldn't!”

“He is a splintered, shattered man now. They have broken him.” Burnley started to walk around to the opposite side of the gurney, each of his steps slow and methodical. I couldn't help but to feel like some sort of small animal being stalked. “He sits alone in the darkness, festering, rotting away thinking about a life that can never be again, where he had a wife, a child, a family... and a life with you which is slowly slipping away, day after day when you never come to rescue him. Random thoughts of a dying man perhaps.” Burnley cracked a truly evil smile as he leaned down over the rail of the bed, resting his elbows on the hard steel. “Oh wait. Is it you he's thinking about, or is it Thomas?” I scowled at him, and he noticed it. “That's right; Thomas did manage to upload some of Benjamin's memories to our servers before the transmission was cut off. Everything that he has seen and done, we know and have used it against him, which is how I am here. With the help of your book, the F.E.C. was able to dive into that alternate reality and bring me back here, years ago, with the intention of grooming me to be the one that would finally topple the resistance and unite Prox under one rule. Our rule. Benjamin wanted to be with his son once again, and now he will be. He is getting exactly what he wanted, and nothing can stop it. The Eden Project will cleanse Prox, and we will start anew, beginning with his death at my hands.”

“Burnley please, you can't do this. It's madness. You don't know Ben. He's not what you are making him out to be. Go talk to him. Tell him who you are, he needs to know! He will understand. Please.”

There was a slight knock on the door and Burnley straightened up. “Come.” he called out. I heard the latch click and the door slide open, then the slight tap of boots on the concrete floor. The Carnivore that entered stood just out of the range of my vision; all I could make out was that of the shadow. I didn’t need to know what the animal looked like, they were all the same horrific creatures. It brought forth a small viewing device that was displaying a series of cameras around the base and handed it over to Burnley. Raising an eyebrow, he took it from them and a wide smile slowly crept over his lips. “Who opened the cell for them?” he asked in a not so pleased tone.

“We believe Selene did it, Commander, she's been spotted on the base, would you like me to organize a patrol to find her?”

“No, we're almost ready to begin the Eden Project. Selene is not a threat, she's just a annoying little flea that turns up from time to time... however, she actually did me a favor this time.” Turning the monitor towards me, he hit a button which displayed a video recording of Brock and Thomas slipping into one of the cells on the bottom level of the base. Oh god, they were trying to rescue Benjamin. “Well it looks like I have all of the rats in one place now. It will be too easy to exterminate them all.” He turned toward the Carnivore who had stepped further in the room now and handed it the device. “Seal the doors, lock them in. Remain in the prison until I arrive, do not leave that hall unattended. I will be down to deal with them shortly.” The Carnivore nodded and I could hear the slight shift of robes as it made it’s way back out the heavy steel door, leaving me alone once again with Ben’s sadistic son.

His gaze shifted up to the various monitors lining the walls, those amber flecked eyes scanning over each and every one of the detailed displays of information in front of him. A shadow fell over his face, and for a moment, he looked very much like his father. My heart went out to Ben, suffering and in pain for so long, locked away, and not knowing that the last moments of his life would soon be ended by his own son. “Burnley.” I whispered. I could feel tears start to run down my cheeks. 

Turning to look at me, my heart almost stopped for a moment. It was like looking at a much younger Ben and it took my breath away and broke my heart at the same time. I wanted to save him, but I didn’t know how. “I was there. I saw you being taken away from your mother. I heard your screams that night. I know it’s been a long time, but give it a moment, think back…The F.E.C. didn’t take those memories away, or alter them, they are still there. Try to find them.”

He stood quiet and impassive for a moment, still holding the syringe of drugs in his hands. I could see a slight tremble in his left hand which held the needle. “It was raining.”

“Yes.” He was remembering, I had to hope that he could remember more now. My life depended on it.

The expression on his face changed and became softer, gentler. “I saw you there. The woman tried to take me away, but you called out to me. There were so many people… I got lost. I was alone…”

I tried to turn my head to face him, but the straps made it impossible. All I could to was look up at the ceiling. I needed to keep talking. “They were looking for you for a very long time, Burnley. You were never alone. Your family, your REAL family, not the F.E.C. tried to find you because they loved you. This wasn’t how it was supposed to happen, you were never meant to be here on Prox. Your father had plans for you to follow in his footsteps, because he knew that his body was failing and he didn’t want to stop sharing his gift with the world. Think about his music, his songs, his WORDS. This was to be your legacy, not off fighting a war on a planet that you don’t even belong to. You don’t owe the F.E.C. anything, they stole you away from your real family. It’s not too late for you, all you have to do is want to change and it can happen. We can take you away from here, a clean start, a new life. A chance to find out who you really are.” 

The monitors continued to beep loudly in the small room as he stood in silence next to me. For a moment, he glanced down at the syringe in his hand and a shudder of fear ran through me, but then, much to my amazement, he turned around and placed it back on the crash cart. I breathed a sigh of relief. Without speaking, he made his way to the end of the gurney, pushed the thin sheet that covered my body up slightly, and began to unfasten the straps that held my ankles down. “Thank you, Burnley.” I whispered. Without responding to me, or even looking at me, he continued to unbuckle each of the straps on my wrists, arms, neck and finally my head. The tubes and wires that connected me to the machines, and IV tubes still remained in place, pumping chemicals into my body that made me feel woozy and disorientated. I laid still as the last of the buckles dropped open and freed me from the steel prison. He pushed a few buttons and the metal sidebars on the sides of the bed slid down beside it, and he held out his hand for me to sit up. Curious as to why he had not removed the tubes or slid the needles out of my veins, I took his hand and forced my body upright into a sitting position. The room spun and it took a few moments for me to find my center of gravity. Looking into one of the monitors, I could see my reflection in the glass there and almost did not recognize the person staring back at me. My head had almost been completely shaved, with only a few scattered clumps of hair remaining in various blotchy patches, centered around a very red and swollen bar code tattoo that looked very infected. My skin was ashen white with blue circles around my sunken in eyes. How long had I been asleep for, and what had the drug he injected me with do to me? I felt as though my body had aged years in the time I had been unconscious, each bone creaked and screamed out in agony as I tried to move. I was as weak and frail as a child. 

Rubbing my sore wrists, I felt uncomfortable and uneasy as he stood in front of me, those gray-green eyes staring intently. I pointed toward the multiple lines of tubing connected to my veins. “Would you mind removing these? The faster I can get on my feet, the faster we can find the others and get out of here.” My mind was already racing with the thought of being able to finally be able to see Benjamin again. I was slightly fearful of the fact that Thomas and Brock were with him, but these problems would have to wait until we reached safety. With Burnley on our side, I knew that escaping the base would be easy. Everything was falling into place now. 

As I waited impatiently for Burnley to remove the intravenous lines, I noticed that his silence was quite unsettling and disturbing. He had his head lowered, and he kept his eyes hidden now underneath that black cadet hat. Something didn’t feel right. “Burnley? Hey are you okay?” I asked, shifting nervously on the stretcher. 

I could see the corner of his mouth upturn into a slightly wicked smile, and without warning, he leaned forward and kissed me roughly on the lips. It was a cold, hard, unemotional kiss that sent a wave of disgust through me the moment his lips pressed against mine. It tasted like copper and astringent, antiseptic and felt completely inappropriate, and I wanted it to instantly end. Placing my hands against his chest, I tried to push him away, but he was strong for his young age and did not budge, even an inch, and in my weakened state, I had absolutely no strength to fight it. He slipped his hand underneath the crumpled up sheet and glided one of his hands up the inside of my thigh, coming to rest between my legs and grasping hold of my shaft with a painful clutch. There was nothing erotic or sensual about what he was doing. This was rape. I managed to break my lips away from his, but before I could pull away completely, he caught my lower lip and he bit down, sinking his teeth deeply into it and puncturing the skin. The taste of blood immediately began to fill my mouth and I could see him smiling as he pulled away from me. “What the hell are you doing!?” I shouted at him, spitting the blood out of my mouth. 

His nimble fingers dug deep further into my cock, so hard that it caused the breath to leave my lungs as I gasped desperately. I clutched at the layers of twisted sheet that was still partially draped around me. “I am going to set you free, just like you wanted to be Dustin… but in exchange for your freedom and the chance to save your friends, you have to give me something first. Isn’t this how you bargain hmm?” 

I cringed when he spoke my name. He had been calling me by my last name all the way up to this point, but now using my first name felt perverted and disturbing. All I could see when I looked at him was the innocent, small child that I saw in Benjamin’s arms on the beach, or the one who saw me in the church. I didn’t want to see him as this twisted, cold man in front of me. I refused to admit that this could be the same person. “Don’t touch me! I don’t have anything to give you, just fucking stop this. This is WRONG, this whole place is WRONG, and you know it!” 

The amber color in his eyes flashed brighter than I had ever seen it before. He pulled away from me, releasing his hold and I breathed a sigh of relief. “You’ve been making the wrong choice at every turn in your life up to this point. Now is your chance to make the correct one. Three lives hang in the balance here. Are you willing to sacrifice the lives of both of the people that you love to save your own skin?” His voice dropped, the tone changed, and he looked me directly in the eyes. At that particular moment, I could have sworn I was speaking to Benjamin himself. “Others have sacrificed so much for you, this is your one chance to be the hero. After this, you won’t have to choose anymore. I promise.”

Burnley reached out and stroked my cheek. His fingers were so soft.

Gasping for breath, I pulled the door open with what little strength I had left. I don’t know how much time passed. At some point I believe that I blacked out, but I couldn’t be sure. Everything seemed to be moving in slow motion even my heartbeat, thudding painfully loud in my ears was at a frightening slow pace. Is this what death felt like? I gathered up the thin sheet that was my only source of clothing and wrapped it around my body, as I staggered out the door. I did not look behind me, I didn’t want to deal with that guilt, not yet. I needed to get away, to put distance between us. A fine line of blood droplets followed me down the hall, as I walked barefoot through the corridors of the F.E.C. base, caused by the gouged holes in my arms and legs from where the intravenous lines had been ripped out. I leaned against the wall, shivering and shaking. My body was going through shock from the trauma it had just been forced to endure. Everything in front of my eyes was blurry and distorted, breathing was becoming increasingly difficult. There was a heaviness seeping into my chest, making my heart feel as though it were under the weight of a thousand stones. I knew that there were Carnivores patrolling the halls, but I could barely stand and avoiding them would be impossible. Fuck it. I resigned myself to certain death if I got caught. At this point, my life mattered very little to me, but theirs did. I had to find them. Forcing my bare feet to keep moving onward, I was vaguely aware that I was leaving a macabre trail of bloody footprints behind me. I could feel the blood trickling down my legs and feared that this place would be my tomb if I didn’t keep moving. The sheet shifted slightly getting caught up between my ankles and I tripped over it, falling down to the floor and collapsing in a miserable heap. My body refused to respond, my limbs felt as though they were heavy, lifeless weights strapped to my body, pulling me down, drowning me in pain. Each movement sent a wave of intense agony through my body, I was trapped. Fresh tears streamed down my cheeks, mixing with bits of dried blood as I lay there and sobbed. “What have I done?” I whispered into the empty hallway. There was no one there to answer me. Then the lights dimmed and a voice came over the intercom. “Please proceed to your appointed stations, the Eden Project will commence shortly. This is a warning.” The fluorescent lights shut down completely for a moment, then were suddenly were replaced with a eerie red glow that filled the hall like a wave of blood. It was starting. Oh god… what have I done?

Brock looked at Benjamin once more, still unsure of his decision to hack the Carnivore. They were running out of time, and it was their only option, but he still felt as though there was a great risk. Everything hinged on his ability to successfully get into the operating system of the nearest Carnivore and bring it straight to the door to open it. One incorrect line of coding, one incorrect keystroke and it would mean that he was bringing death right to them. 

Sensing his hesitation Benjamin nodded to Brock. “Do it.” He said. Brock nodded and his shaking finger dropped down over the enter key and pressed it. A wave of commands swarmed over his screen as the program started. “How will we know if it is working?” Ben asked.

“It will take just a few minutes while it searches the coordinates in the area for the nearest Carnivore to hack, it all depends on their location here in the base, if one is closer then it will only take a few seconds.” Brock explained. 

“So when that door opens, it’s either leading us to our freedom or to our deaths…” Thomas chimed in, moving closer to Benjamin. 

Benjamin bent down and picked up Brock’s backpack, pulling out one of the guns and quickly checked the battery life, then handed the bag to him. “Be ready to move. If it works, you need to command it to take us to Bates as quickly as you can. After we find him, we can’t take the risk of having that thing know our location anymore. Deactivate it, snap its neck, I want you to do whatever you have to do to get rid of it. Do you understand?” he asked.

Brock nodded. “I can overload it with a massive dose of power from the central servers. It will fry the operating system and destroy what little brain it has in there.” His eyes met Ben’s for a moment, giving him a serious almost warning glance. “As long as I have that split second to still be in control, if I lose communication with it, it will be too late and there is nothing I can do.”

“Don’t worry. It won’t come to that.” Benjamin replied with a straight face. For some odd reason, Brock felt a little more secure with Benjamin giving orders. He had hated and despised the man for a very long time, but here, in this moment, it was if they were finally all on the same side, fighting for the same thing, fighting to save their lives. United. Thomas on the other hand, he still had doubts about. The argument over who altered the visor and took Ben’s memories of Dustin away was still very much an issue, but it would have to wait. This was not the time or place for confrontation. 

The sound of boots echoing in the hall beyond the door made them all freeze in place. Brock slid the backpack onto his shoulder and held the laptop open, poised and ready to give the command. The sense of tension in the atmosphere was undeniable. Thomas and Ben exchanged glances for a moment, and then Brock raised an eyebrow, seeing Thomas’s hand slip into Ben’s. Ben grasped Thomas's hand tightly, taking a long deep breath and then brought the gun up with his free hand completely steady and unwavering, aiming it the door. This was the moment of truth, do or die. 

All of the men stood motionless in the room, their hearts beating rapidly, unsure of whether or not Brock’s hacking had worked correctly, then suddenly there was a quiet beeping from outside, the sound of numbers being pressed on a keypad. Benjamin lifted the gun slightly higher, his finger already pulling back on the trigger, waiting patiently. The door slid open and a dark shape appeared beyond, standing just at the threshold of the door, unmoving. Thomas smiled. “Brock! You are a genius! You did it!” Leaving Ben’s side, he walked over to the door, past the unresponsive Carnivore and out into the hall. “Looks all clear out here. We should move, can you give it the commands to find Dustin now?” he asked.

“Yeah, just give me a moment.” Brock started typing on the keyboard while Thomas kept a lookout in the corridor beyond. Benjamin took a few steps forward, lowering the weapon and tilting his head curiously at the unfortunate Carnivore that they had control of. Sensing Ben’s unusual silence, Brock looked up from the laptop at Ben. “Is something wrong?” he asked.

Benjamin made his way over to the creature and stood directly in front of it. “These things are made from genetically engineered humans, aren’t they?” 

Brock nodded. “Yeah, the F.E.C. is very particular about the subjects that they choose for conversion. Most of them are bred from human slaves that have been altered themselves, ensuring that they only get the best viable bodies. That’s not always the case though, sometimes they use people that they captured and turn them into the monsters as well, sort of like a warning to others to keep them in line. Why do you ask?”

Stepping forward again, Benjamin reached out and pulled the scarf away from around the Carnivore’s neck, and then removed the helmet, exposing its face. Brock let out a startled cry, and backed up, nearly dropping his laptop. 

They were looking at the cold, dead eyes of the surgically modified and altered Lizzie.

**Author's Note:**

> The beginning of this piece was originally written a long time ago just because I wanted to get the scene out of my head and down onto paper, it was called 'The Black Parade' and I never fully finished it or brought it to life because I felt it was a personal piece that I did not want to share. When I started writing this chapter, I had some technical problems and part of the fic was lost, however, this turned out to be a good thing because I was able to bring in the funeral scene and successfully add it to Dustin's vision and it worked so beautifully.
> 
> Originally I also had wanted to add more members of the Breaking Benjamin band in the beginning of the story, to show the reader that all of his friends and family were there, I decided to ditch this idea though because adding more characters, I feel at this point would be a mistake, and I would like to center on the characters I do now and fully flesh out their lives and experiences.
> 
> Last note--I did not write about what happened to Dustin in the lab with Burnley on purpose for two reasons:
> 
> 1\. I wanted to leave it open for reader interpretation at the moment so that you can draw your own conclusions. I did not feel like writing anything graphic or shocking (yet) would be appropriate for the feel of this chapter. It already had quite a bit of ups and downs, and revealing what happened to him would be just too much for now. 
> 
> 2\. Something bad DID happen to him in that room, something terrible. For the moment he's blocking it out because he knows that he needs to find his friends and save them.


End file.
